Latest update: LaGuardia has reopened as of 2 PM Monday, March 23. On Tuesday, March 24, there were still significant delays at the airport as only one of the two runways is operational. The FAA is reporting that arrival delays are averaging 4 hours and 40 minutes. The earliest the runway will re-open is Friday, March 27.
A pilot and copilot were killed when an Air Canada regional jet collided with a fire truck while landing late Sunday at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, crushing the aircraft’s nose.
About 40 passengers and crew were transported to nearby hospitals, some with serious injuries, though most have since been released, authorities said. The airport will remain closed until at least 2 p.m. Monday as the National Transportation Safety Board leads an investigation.
The aircraft, operated by Jazz Aviation on behalf of Air Canada, was carrying 72 passengers and four crew members, the airline said. The flight had departed from Montréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, the city’s main hub.
Two Port Authority employees riding in the fire truck were also injured, though their conditions are not considered life-threatening, according to Kathryn Garcia, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport.
Garcia said at a news conference that both the pilot and copilot were based in Canada.
Misdirected by Air Traffic Control
The fire truck was traveling across the runway to respond to a separate incident aboard a United Airlines flight, whose pilot had reported “an issue with odor,” said Garcia, who deferred additional questions about the sequence of events leading up to the crash to the NTSB.
In the moments before the crash, an air traffic controller could be heard on a radio transmission giving clearance to a vehicle to cross part of the tarmac, then trying to stop it.
“Stop, Truck 1. Stop,” the transmission says. The controller can then be heard frantically diverting an incoming aircraft from landing.
Air traffic controllers are not impacted by the partial government shutdown that has caused long delays at airport security checkpoints in recent days. They have been affected by past shutdowns.
Images and video from the scene showed extensive damage to the front of the plane, with the cockpit crushed and debris and cables exposed. A damaged emergency vehicle could be seen overturned nearby.
Evacuation stairs were positioned at the jet’s exits to assist passengers off the Bombardier CRJ, which was left with its nose crumpled and angled upward after the impact.
Meanwhile, full planes on the tarmac, waiting to take off, were informed the airport was closing and they had to return to the terminal, where a departure board filled with cancellations awaited.
See a statement from Air Canada here, and Jazz Aviation here.
